"CaveLamb" wrote in message
m...
Ed Huntress wrote:
"Winston" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

FWIW, as a purple cleaner, oven cleaner, and gasoline user, I'd try
them in
that order, unless you don't mind the gasoline fumes, in which case
that
would be second.

I mix my own oven cleaner for cleaning my charcoal grill but it's a
bugger
to get straight lye these days. The only over-the-counter retail source
I've
seen identified by others is Roebic Crystal Drain Cleaner, which I buy
from
Lowe's at $11.00 for two poundsouch!! It's now $1.98 for two pounds
online, under different names, but then I pay $10 shipping. d8-(

I do buy 20 pounds or so at a time online once in a while. You want
100%
sodium hydroxide crystals or pellets; mix 20% with water by weight;
dump in
some diatomaceous earth to make it stick a little to the grill. You can
use
potassium hydroxide but it's more expensive.

Mix 40% for cleaning drains, and stand back...At 40%, it's like thin
syrup.
Copied to disk and printed.

Thanks again Ed!

--Winston

You're welcome. Pencil this in: To the 20% plus d. earth formula, add
enough fumed silica to make soup, and use it to strip paint. Whole
houses. I did my whole porch with it.

It's slow with latex paints -- like, two days -- but fairly quick with
alkyd/oil/varnish. And it's cheap, with no methylene chloride fumes.
Neutralize with a dilute oxalic acid mix before painting. This stripper
treatment is used in historic-house restorations.



I'll give that a try, Ed.
It's got to be better, cheaper, and safer than that junk I used last time!

Just protect yourself well. When you're stripping a big area, it's hard to
keep that soup off of you, and it burns. Also, try any synthetic paint
brushes you use with it before getting into a big project -- or maybe you
can find an expert who will tell you what kinds not to use. I wound up with
a handle and no bristles once. d8-)

When I'm buying quantities of sodium hydroxide, I buy from
www.essentialdepot.com. They've always given me good service.

--
Ed Huntress



--

Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~sv_temptress